National president of Humane Society to visit Syracuse

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, will visit Syracuse on Saturday.

President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, will visit Syracuse on Saturday to discuss the contradictions of the human-animal relationship.

Pacelle will hold a question and answer and signing event for his first book, “The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them” at 6 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Dewitt.

During his 18 years with the Humane Society, Pacelle has called for laws protecting animals, including ones that would ban selling videos depicting animal cruelty and require government agencies to include pets in disaster planning. His new book, now in paperback, explores the complexity of human and animal interaction and encourages reform.

Pacelle answered a few questions about his book, the humane movement and feral cats.

Why did you choose to visit Syracuse? There’s a boy I met a couple of years ago in Syracuse, Martin Welych-Flanagan. He makes and sells bracelets and raised thousands of dollars for the Humane Society, raising awareness to stop the Canadian seal hunt. When I went to Buffalo I said, I have to make sure I come to Syracuse. I’m going to have dinner with him.

Your book discusses our age-old connection with other creatures. Can you explain that and its relevance to this day and age? We have an intuitive connection with other animals, which I call “the bond,” and it’s something that’s built in everyone of us and draws us to other creatures. But our relationship with animals is ripe with contradictions. We profess a love and have legal standards for cruelty against them. But there’s large scale institutional cruelty in the form of factory farming, puppy mills and so many other forms of exploitation. And essentially my work at the Humane Society is designed to show a better and more humane pathway towards us as individuals and society.

What do you think accounts for this complex relationship? I think that the impulse to be connected is present, but isn’t something that overrides all considerations: economic considerations, traditions and selfish purposes. I think that our physical separation from animals in our now very long supply chain is part of the explanation for why terrible things happen.

How can people make changes for improvement? There are so many different things we can do. With dogs and cats, we can adopt from a shelter or rescue group, we can buy products not tested on animals. Also think about our food choices. Whether vegetarian or carnivore, whether we realize it or not we’re making moral choices affecting animals. We can shun products that are from factory farms. You don’t have to be perfect or abstain from eating animals in order to make better choices.
What are your suggestions on how to handle the overpopulation of feral cats, like we have had in the town of Salina? There are feral cat populations all over the country. We have trap-neuter-return programs with humane traps. If you have enough labor and diligence, the cat population will decline, but it will be done humanely.